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My Dad shared his experiences with me when he was in the hospice. About a week before he died, lying in his hospice bed, he asked me if I could see the phoenix before him. The rising from the ashes of the phoenix and the Irish connection with the phoenix - I knew this was not Dad losing his marbles but signs for him on his way. He also spoke of things happening, things he saw, and he realised we could not see what he was seeing.  It was not happening in his hospice room, he was somewhere else. He saw things from the war, ' the soldier has dropped his papers' Dad said. Dad was trying to move to pick something up. We assured him if something was on the floor the care staff would find it, and we couldn't see anything. He said the papers were not there, that he was somewhere else. He laughed. Dad also asked me if I saw the people who were in his room. If I remember correctly he was talking about members of the family who had died. I told Dad that I could not see them, and I thought they were there for him. 

Dad struggled to speak for most of his last week, but there were moments when he was coherent. All the above I heard clearly from him in spite of the fact that for much of the time he appeared to be out of it. Dad was receiving morphine, which of course altered his perception. However I found it really moving when he shared his experiences with me. He was very weak, in excruciating pain, and yet I felt really connected to Dad, and reassured that he would be met by loved ones when he died.

I don't think I have shared this so clearly with anyone before, I just passed snippets on, such as Dad saw a phoenix, or he was talking about his father (who died before I was born).

Thx xxxxx, it is an honour to be connected to what you are doing